Google Now is available for iPhone and iPad users

Google Now and voice search is available today for iPad and iPhone. Previously, the service was only available on Android devices running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and above, but now iOS users have the ability to utilize Google's context-aware search functionality. To take advantage, sign into your Google accounts and access the Google Search application. Cards will pop up within it and then you can tap the microphone icon to initiate voice-dictated search queries. “Our goal is to get you the right information, at just the right time,” said Google CEO and co-founder, Larry Page, in last week’s earnings call. “Voice commands are going to be increasingly important. It’s just much less hassle to talk than type.”

There are a few feature differences between platforms, however. Google Now on iOS won’t be able to display boarding passes or an activity summary for the day. It can't integrate with Fandango, bring up recent research topics, or showcase nearby events like Google Now on Android does. However, the iOS version still provides plenty of Google Now functionality. Users will be able to see things like traffic conditions for your most traveled-to places on demand and the day’s weather. Google Now on iOS also offers up shipping notifications and delivery updates, show times for nearby movie theaters, breaking news stories, and word translations.

Interested users can get the new features by updating or downloading the Google Search application in the iTunes App Store.

I wonder what's keeping Google from making an official ICS-(or, hell, even GB-) compatible version of Google Now available. It's hard to believe those are less friendly targets than iOS, and there's probably half a billion phones out there that will never see JB.

The Good:-Great UX-Awesome hardware (iPhone 5)-Speed (UX-related, I suppose)-All the apps I use on Android (that don't require root) are available and usually better-Third party support (dock, cases, etc.)-Excellent Bluetooth support (where's AVRCP 1.3+, Android?)

The Bad:-Jailbreaking doesn't seem to yield quite the same benefits as rooting Android (can't upgrade iOS versions as quickly, for one)-I can't jailbreak my device (version 6.1.3)-Google account integration not as seamless as Android-Navigation path(s) difficult to get used to (personal problem, of course)-Unified settings app is a little weird at first

The Ugly:-Google's apps on iOS are better than their Android equivalents (WTF???)

EDIT: BTW, I'm leaning towards keeping the iPhone and adding an iPad. I'm just surprised at the quality of Google's apps on iOS.

I found that even if the app has been closed (by double pressing home button, long pressing the app icon and then the (-) button), the "location arrow" indicator is still on indefinitely. Going into Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services reveal that the Google app is still querying the OS for your location.

I look forward to the day Google's search app allows you to do image searches from your camera roll/Photos app. I am constantly frustrated by the lack of ability to do this on my iPhone; it seems a no-brainer for Google or someone to come out with this functionality, especially in a dedicated search app!

I still can't figure out this Google Now. It's not a particularly useful thing. About the only thing I find of any real value is it will tell be about traffic delays between home and work. But it won't tell me when I need to leave to be at work on time. That would be useful!

I look forward to the day Google's search app allows you to do image searches from your camera roll/Photos app. I am constantly frustrated by the lack of ability to do this on my iPhone; it seems a no-brainer for Google or someone to come out with this functionality, especially in a dedicated search app!

I look forward to the day Google's search app allows you to do image searches from your camera roll/Photos app. I am constantly frustrated by the lack of ability to do this on my iPhone; it seems a no-brainer for Google or someone to come out with this functionality, especially in a dedicated search app!

Google Goggles. I'm not sure if this is available for iOS or not.

Googles is built into the Google search app, but it only does searches via taking a camera picture within the app, not from your Photos.

I look forward to the day Google's search app allows you to do image searches from your camera roll/Photos app. I am constantly frustrated by the lack of ability to do this on my iPhone; it seems a no-brainer for Google or someone to come out with this functionality, especially in a dedicated search app!

Google Goggles. I'm not sure if this is available for iOS or not.

Googles is built into the Google search app, but it only does searches via taking a camera picture within the app, not from your Photos.

Good to know. IIRC, the Android app would let you search from the Gallery, but I never really used it like that. I mostly used it to scan QRs and whatnot.

I found that even if the app has been closed (by double pressing home button, long pressing the app icon and then the (-) button), the "location arrow" indicator is still on indefinitely. Going into Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services reveal that the Google app is still querying the OS for your location.

I found that even if the app has been closed (by double pressing home button, long pressing the app icon and then the (-) button), the "location arrow" indicator is still on indefinitely. Going into Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services reveal that the Google app is still querying the OS for your location.

It needs to always know where you are to create new location-based cards. If you are concerned about battery usage, you can go into the settings within the Google Search app and turn off the Google Now feature.

The Good:-Great UX-Awesome hardware (iPhone 5)-Speed (UX-related, I suppose)-All the apps I use on Android (that don't require root) are available and usually better-Third party support (dock, cases, etc.)-Excellent Bluetooth support (where's AVRCP 1.3+, Android?)

The Bad:-Jailbreaking doesn't seem to yield quite the same benefits as rooting Android (can't upgrade iOS versions as quickly, for one)-I can't jailbreak my device (version 6.1.3)-Google account integration not as seamless as Android-Navigation path(s) difficult to get used to (personal problem, of course)-Unified settings app is a little weird at first

The Ugly:-Google's apps on iOS are better than their Android equivalents (WTF???)

EDIT: BTW, I'm leaning towards keeping the iPhone and adding an iPad. I'm just surprised at the quality of Google's apps on iOS.

Completely agree. I have an iPhone 4S and an Nexus 4 and I don't know why Google treats better iOS in their applications than its own platform. Google Maps usability on iOS (let's not talk about the look which is a world apart) is vastly superior in iOS meanwhile in Android we have a severely dated application. The same for GMail and even Google+. Come on Google, it's your platform. You make it. Is it so difficult to put the same level of detail in Android as you put in iOS? All your good designers and usability experts are working for the iOS division?

I still can't figure out this Google Now. It's not a particularly useful thing. About the only thing I find of any real value is it will tell be about traffic delays between home and work. But it won't tell me when I need to leave to be at work on time. That would be useful!

Yeah, it would. For now, you'd have to set your start time as an appointment.

I just got it on my phone (Jelly Bean update late last week) and I assume it'll take a while before I start finding it useful. But it's kind of awkward that my iPad almost got it first.

Completely agree. I have an iPhone 4S and an Nexus 4 and I don't know why Google treats better iOS in their applications than its own platform. Google Maps usability on iOS (let's not talk about the look which is a world apart) is vastly superior in iOS meanwhile in Android we have a severely dated application. The same for GMail and even Google+. Come on Google, it's your platform. You make it. Is it so difficult to put the same level of detail in Android as you put in iOS? All your good designers and usability experts are working for the iOS division?

Android got me entrenched in Google's services (partially, at least), but it's the quality of the UX in Google's iOS apps that is pushing me towards Apple.

From the OS perspective, this is bizarre behavior. From the data side, it makes a ton of sense. The only thing I can think of is that the data is much more valuable than the OS. That, and there might be different goals between the apps and OS.

Installed this on my iPad2 after reading the article. I actually use Siri on my 4S, mostly when driving, so I was curious.

Only spent a few minutes with it, but it seems to work well on the iPad2. The head-to-head was the name of a restaurant chain. Siri added the 'extra' step of saying the phrase "...was not located, would I like to search the web?" before doing the same Google search. Otherwise, so what?, I guess.

I still can't figure out this Google Now. It's not a particularly useful thing. About the only thing I find of any real value is it will tell be about traffic delays between home and work. But it won't tell me when I need to leave to be at work on time. That would be useful!

I once had it wake me up with an alert that traffic was backed up for 30 minutes on the way to work, which I thought was pretty amazing and useful.

I also was delighted when it picked up shipment tracking numbers from GMail and displayed package status.

Not the most amazing thing I suppose but it's nifty enough. The other features of Now seem kind of interesting but I'm rarely in a spot where they'd be used.

Most overrated and overhyped thing in last couple of years. Outside of tech websites reviewers, haven't seen anybody raving over it.

Oh, yeah, Now for iOS doesn't work in the country where I am atm (somewhere in Europe). Android version works but iOS Google Now says "Not available in your country".

I'm not a tech reviewer, so how about I do you a service and rave over it?

I use Google Now quite a bit. Definitely a daily tool for me. Of course, the caveat here is that I use an Android phone. I don't use the iOS version (of course) and thus anything which isn't in Google Now on iOS due to Apple's limitations isn't applicable.

So to start - the traffic info each day isn't much help since I have a short commute to work and I don't have many alternative routes I can go on my commute. I appreciate the weather - no biggie there.

What I actually have found quite useful, though, is that I use Google Calendar. For my appointments/plans, Google Now will let me know when to leave my current location to get to my appointment on time. Pops up a nice little notification.

I occasionally travel for work. Google Now pulls up all of my flight information for me for the trip. Not all of my flights for all of my planned trips. Just the current one with directions to the airport and whether it's on time or delayed. It adds weather cards for my destination(s). When I land at my destination it pops up my rental car and hotel cards with a map and directions to those places as well. Now also pops up a set of cards for restaurants and entertainment in the area (fodors). When i'm in a new city these little things make me a helluva lot more confident in being able to hit the ground running.

When I order from newegg and amazon Google Now adds cards for my shipping details. On thursday and friday nights Google Now pops up a movies card with showtimes for popular movies at theaters near me. When I make a reservation on Opentable for dinner, Google Now pops up a card for my dinner reservation and a reminder for when to leave to get there on time.

Google Now is not just for voice searches, and if you think it's just a pretty way to get traffic info, weather, and voice search then - in my opinion - you're missing the entire point.

Is Google Now useful for everyone? Of course not. But it's certainly not just tech bloggers raving about it.

I wonder what's keeping Google from making an official ICS-(or, hell, even GB-) compatible version of Google Now available. It's hard to believe those are less friendly targets than iOS, and there's probably half a billion phones out there that will never see JB.

GB doesn't have anywhere near the API calls they need in order to integrate the way they did in JB. (Neither does iOS, but that's why it can't do nearly as much as the Android version). ICS has most of the API calls, so it is a little odd that they didn't at least backport the features that would easily work to ICS.

Mostly, I imagine it's a time/effort versus gain problem. The older versions of Android should get completely replaced soon enough, as even the cheapest Android contracts still using GB will expire, and all phones have pretty much moved on to JB. I think they wanted to give people a reason to upgrade, and know that in about another 6 months or so, the number of people still on GB that would even use this feature is so minimal, it's not worth even thinking about.

Really, it comes down to carriers and manufacturers really need to start keeping their devices up to date. There's a ton of issues with them staying on outdated Android versions for so long, including bugs, vulnerabilities, and missing features.

I don't know. Maybe it's because these systems don't support Dutch, but here in Amsterdam I don't actually see people talking to their devices.

I'm in the US and almost never see anyone interacting with their phone via voice either. (I don't mean phone calls - that is interacting with another person). I use voice with my Nexus 4 maybe once a week or so. Sometimes to create a Google Keep note, other times to do a search. I actually did a search via voice yesterday. But just the fact that I remember that I used voice once yesterday shows that it is still an infrequent use case.

Completely agree. I have an iPhone 4S and an Nexus 4 and I don't know why Google treats better iOS in their applications than its own platform. Google Maps usability on iOS (let's not talk about the look which is a world apart) is vastly superior in iOS meanwhile in Android we have a severely dated application. The same for GMail and even Google+. Come on Google, it's your platform. You make it. Is it so difficult to put the same level of detail in Android as you put in iOS? All your good designers and usability experts are working for the iOS division?

While Maps looks better, it's far more limited than Android version. iOS GMail is PoS compared to Android GMail app. G+ apps on Android and iOS are almost identical, with Android version giving more information and sticking to the Android UI guidelines.

While Maps looks better, it's far more limited than Android version. iOS GMail is PoS compared to Android GMail app. G+ apps on Android and iOS are almost identical, with Android version giving more information and sticking to the Android UI guidelines.

PS: I use both iPhone4 and Nexus4 daily.

For a casual user which basically reads, archives, deletes and replies messages, both GMail aplications work exactly the same and the one in iOS looks way better. The same for Maps, better look, the same basic functionality and much more easy access to something as basic as alternative routes (in Android is a nightmare to find it. I didn't even know there was this option). Agree with G+ app. It's a matter of taste and basically they differ on look and animations but I find more pleasant the iOS one.

Most overrated and overhyped thing in last couple of years. Outside of tech websites reviewers, haven't seen anybody raving over it.

Oh, yeah, Now for iOS doesn't work in the country where I am atm (somewhere in Europe). Android version works but iOS Google Now says "Not available in your country".

People read tech sites to get some hint as to the future. What is interesting about Google Now and similar programs is that they represent one part of how we use our ever-increasing computational resources. We've moved from computers that compute to computers that communicate to computers that consolidate...

Of course version 1 of the tech looks silly and limited --- it's the equivalent of people looking at an Apple II and thinking "that's a way to file recipes". It takes time to figure out how best to use a new set of ideas. Anyone on this site over forty years old has been through a dozen such cycles, from promising idea poorly implemented and unsatisfactory to can't live without.

I am curious to what effect swiping away a card has (despite the obvious.) Does it reduce the frequency of that type of card appearing in the future, or does it simply remove it from the current view? I find some of the cards useful, but would hate loosing them based on a habit of swiping them away after viewing them.

I don't know. Maybe it's because these systems don't support Dutch, but here in Amsterdam I don't actually see people talking to their devices.

I'm in the US and almost never see anyone interacting with their phone via voice either. (I don't mean phone calls - that is interacting with another person). I use voice with my Nexus 4 maybe once a week or so. Sometimes to create a Google Keep note, other times to do a search. I actually did a search via voice yesterday. But just the fact that I remember that I used voice once yesterday shows that it is still an infrequent use case.

Based on my experience, I think this sentiment is mistaken.

I likewise don't use Siri that much. But when I use it, it works. And interestingly, the most recent time I used it (to set a location-based reminder) it was because I couldn't remember how to do it with the touch UI.

I've found myself following the same pattern in a much more specialized environment, namely Mathematica. Mathematica provides a traditional "command-line" style environment (augmented with a variety of GUI helpers like palettes from which you can choose Mathematical symbols, if you forget how to type them); but the end result is the construction of a programming-language like expression which is perfectly precise and immensely powerful, in describing what you want Mathematica to do.

The newest versions of Mathematica ALSO include a free-form input scheme, where you say vaguely what you want, and hope Mathematica gives you something useful. So instead of Plot[ ArcTan[x], {x, -2, 2} ]you say something like plot arctan(x) and Mathematica figures out by plot you mean the Plot command, likewise for arctan, what would be a useful range over which to plot the function of interest, and so on. If you're used to the formal Mathematica syntax, it takes a while to remember that, for simple quick and dirty tasks, you no longer need to bother with it --- you can type something in the vague direction of what you want and let Mathematica do the rest.

Siri is the same sort of thing. Both of them require us users to remember that they are there, and appropriate for certain tasks. And both require their service providers to make sure they work well enough that we feel using them is worth a try, that it's not going to be a waste of time.

In my experience, both of them have crossed over the reliability hump --- they work well enough that it is worth trying them. The issue now is one of experience on both sides. Apple/Wolfram have to keep adding useful use cases (which they can do by mining the input data for common requests which fail to be understood), and users have to keep remembering to try free-form input when it makes sense.

It just takes time to get used to these things. You doubtless know people whose first instinct for contacting someone is to call them, whereas for others it is email, whereas for yet others it is SMS/chat. (Doubtless there are teenagers who think only an idiot would try to contact someone by chat, that the modern way to do this is to post something on Facebook or Twitter.) Likewise video chat is currently in an awkward in-between phase. I think most of us have a small population for whom it feels natural and sensible --- husbands and wives apart on business, parents speaking to their younger kids; but for many uses, like talking to random strangers or even distant acquaintances, it feels strange, perhaps a little too personal. We (society as a whole) still haven't figured out quite under what circumstances it is or is not appropriate.

For a casual user which basically reads, archives, deletes and replies messages, both GMail aplications work exactly the same and the one in iOS looks way better. The same for Maps, better look, the same basic functionality and much more easy access to something as basic as alternative routes (in Android is a nightmare to find it. I didn't even know there was this option). Agree with G+ app. It's a matter of taste and basically they differ on look and animations but I find more pleasant the iOS one.

This. I, personally, don't "hardcore use" anything on a mobile device. Both my phone (iPhone 5/Nexus 4) or tablet (Nexus 7) is used primarily for light work or (mostly) entertainment. If I need to do some real e-mail work, I'm on my PC. That said, both the Android and iOS GMail apps do a fine job of that as well as Google Maps.

I think what Android brings (from both Google and third party developers like Steve Kondik) is a very strong, tweakable, and "serious" OS. An OS geeks can dig in and do stuff with - hackability. iOS, to me anyway, tries to get out of the way and simply provide a platform for the apps and let the apps and their developers steal the show. IMO, this leads to apps that are "prettier" and more enjoyable to use and, for many people, that trumps functionality. IOW, what good is the functionality if it's too hard to use, or you simply don't enjoy using it?

I am curious to what effect swiping away a card has (despite the obvious.) Does it reduce the frequency of that type of card appearing in the future, or does it simply remove it from the current view? I find some of the cards useful, but would hate loosing them based on a habit of swiping them away after viewing them.

It has no effect. It just removes the card from view in that session; it'll pop up again later as needed. My drive time home, for example, always shows up around 4:45 (Nexus 4) on weekdays no matter how many times I clear the card.

One thing to note, as well, if you're coming from an Android device, all of the cards, settings, etc. you had persist on the iOS version. All my sports teams, drive times, etc. still show up as usual on my iPhone.

My iphone5 battery was at 100% two hours and 30 minutes ago. I've had this app in the background with location services active since I unplugged from the wall. In that time period, I'm down to 92% battery. Normally I'd be at maybe 96%.

I'm a little confused about how to actually USE Google Now. It sounds like a great addition for me, but it's unclear how to get new cards. 1) For instance, the announcement above mentions "Google Now on iOS also offers up shipping notifications and delivery updates". But when I do a search for a current UPS package I have in flight, Google correctly tracks it, but doesn't offer to create a new card. 2) I'm guessing that the "next appointment" only accesses Google Calendar, not the calendar built into iOS. That limits its usefulness. 3) And I'm very curious to know how to access the flight information. Most of my flights are for work and do not go through my GMail. Is there anyway to add this information to a Google Now card manually?

Basically, it looks like a decent platform, but I can't seem to figure out how to get anything other than local weather to show up for me. What customization is possible?

Florence Ion / Florence was a former Reviews Editor at Ars, with a focus on Android, gadgets, and essential gear. She received a degree in journalism from San Francisco State University and lives in the Bay Area.